ah, Campy it's a term of mild derision often used by vapid arty types from the 1960's who used it so often, not realizing they were the epitomie of camp.

camp, campyproviding sophisticated amusement by virtue of having artificially (and vulgarly) mannered or banal or sentimental qualities; "they played up the silliness of their roles for camp effect"; "campy Hollywood musicals of the 1940's"

Wow, Katy, I've never heard "camp" used as in def. 1 or 2 before. It's always a weird feeling when that happens, like there's this whole world of people saying things a certain way and I'm missing out entirely on it... I'm going to be so lost by the time I'm 60.

Actually, you have to try very hard in British English not to make the word camp be a referrence to male homosexuality. To say that someone was not camp implies that he is gay but doesn't act it; to say that someone is camp implies that he acts as if he's gay, but may or may not be so.

a campy person then is a poser? poseur? NOT a thing anyone wants to be called.

PoseurNoun 1. poseur - a person who habitually pretends to be something he is notposershow-off, exhibitionist - someone who deliberately behaves in such a way as to attract attentionposeuse - a woman poseur

A Swedish site refers to Susan Sontag, and explains the word (still in the English spelling) as meaning originally something ludicrous or hopelessly outdated, and that it nowadays refers to things oldfashioned, or at least not modern, but anyway acceptable, perhaps even bordering on trendy.

I think BD managed to drive a coach and horses through my definition: thanks, Dude. Camp usually means in British English that a man exhibits obviously homosexual mannerisms. Of course, such mannerisms are as much part of the sub-culture as anything else. Thus, someone who might be considered to be a straight-acting gay man might be referred to as being not camp. Generally, a straight (sexually) man would not be described as being not camp, because he is not expected to be. However, a man described as camp exhibits such socially defined mannerisms, but may or may not be homosexual.

NB. Caravan-site is not the equivalent term among English lesbians or Lebanese angels.